Extended presence for video conferencing systems

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods of providing extended presence information for multi-user devices are described. Communication devices used in conference rooms represent a different nature than single user devices such as a personal computer. Conference rooms also have attributes that may be added to existing presence information and provide an enhanced experience for scheduling and dissemination of conference room capabilities. Information such as actual people in attendance may be added to the presence information maintained by a presence server to provide an overall enhancement to the meeting room whether it is physically a single conference room or a multitude of endpoints remotely connected to a conference.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/483,493 entitled “Extended Presence for VideoConferencing Systems” by the same inventors as this application filed 12Jun. 2009 which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No.61/061,442 entitled “Extended Presence for Video Conferencing Systems”filed 13 Jun. 2008 each of which is incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to the field of video conferencing.More particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a method ofmaintaining extended presence information in a presence server andexchanging extended presence information between a presence server and aconferencing device. The extended presence information may be associatedwith conferencing equipment and conference participants. The extendedpresence information may also be provided to a presence server forpublication in real-time or near real-time.

BACKGROUND

Presence information can be defined as the information pertaining to aperson's availability to communicate at a given point in time. It may,for example, be used to evaluate a persons online status for instantmessaging (IM) or other type of communication (e.g., online to receiveemail, do not disturb, offline).

A Presence Server can collect, store, and distribute status informationabout users (i.e., Presence Information). The information can originatefrom several different devices, for example from mobile phones, laptopcomputers, PDAs, desktop PCs, or even other application servers. ThePresence Server can correlate this information to form a complete viewof each user's presence information. It can then send the combinedpresence data to one or more “watchers” who have subscribed to thepresence of a particular user. Thus, a Presence Server can act as anintelligent abstraction layer for communications related to presenceperforming functions such as:

-   -   1. managing connections from or sessions for authorized clients,        servers, and other entities;    -   2. routing appropriately-addressed presence messages among such        entities; and    -   3. receiving presence information from its clients and make this        information available to entities (other clients) that subscribe        to presence updates for a given set of clients.

In modern business organizations it is not uncommon for groups ofgeographically dispersed individuals to participate in audioconferences, video conferences, data conferences (e.g., via NetMeetingor WebEx) or some combination thereof. Scheduling such conferences,e.g., coordinating contact times and equipment availability may at timesbe problematic. Furthermore, after a conference begins, currentconference systems typically only notify the participants when a new“far end” joins or leaves the conference. No notification is given ifanother individual arrives at or departs from an already connected “farend.”

Therefore, what is needed is a system and method for adding presenceinformation and extended presence information (defined below) toconferencing network devices, meeting locations and other multi-userdevices to enhance user awareness of availability of shared resources.Furthermore, by extending presence information it may be possible tomake users aware of capabilities of shared user devices and thusoptimize meeting scheduling and use of corporate assets. Additionally,with extended presence information being shared amongst conferencinglocations while conferencing is taking place, security may also beenhanced. This is because each location may be able to determine, inreal-time or near real-time, exactly which individuals are present ateach “far end” location even if these individuals arrive or leave duringthe conference.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, a conferencing system device uses presenceinformation to enhance user experience in the context of a videoconference. In this embodiment, the conferencing system device isconfigured with a programmable processing unit programmed to provideextended presence information pertaining to resources utilized by theconference and participants in the conference. The extended presenceinformation can facilitate optimization of scheduling corporateresources. Extended presence information associated with meetingparticipants may further enhance the ability to get key resourcesscheduled for a meeting in an efficient manner. Thus, an efficientsystem for scheduling, coordinating and enhancing a corporate conferenceenvironment can be provided.

In another embodiment, a conferencing device uses presence informationavailable from a plurality of remote devices. The conferencing devicecan then monitor a composite of specific resources and personnel andalert a meeting subscriber when all requested resources and personnelare available for a conference. Thus, scheduling an ad hoc meeting canbe automated and optimized such that the time of the meeting coordinatorand required participants are optimized.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows, in flowchart form, a process for collecting and updatingextended presence information.

FIG. 2 shows, in flowchart form, a process for collecting and updatinginformation about conference participants.

FIG. 3 shows, in flowchart form, presenting local presence as acollection of individual conference attendees.

FIG. 4 shows, in flowchart form, including scheduling information aspart of the extended presence information.

FIG. 5 shows, in flowchart form, a process for launching an ad-hocconference based on presence information.

FIG. 6 shows, in block diagram form, a programmable control devicecomprising a processing unit as may be found in selected corporatedevices.

FIG. 7 shows, in block diagram form, exemplary corporate devicescommunicatively coupled via a network.

FIG. 8 shows, in block diagram form, exemplary networked devices engagedin a video conference.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following disclosure describes “presence based applications” in thecontext of video conferencing systems pertaining to conference rooms,endpoints and individuals as a non-limiting example. One of ordinaryskill in the art will recognize that the inventive nature of thisdisclosure may be extended to other types of multi-user resources (anddevices supporting those resources) that are shared throughout acommunity or a business organization, such as but not limited to,lecture halls, hotel suites, shared offices, etc. The embodimentsdisclosed herein are described using the eXtensible Markup Language(XML) and a protocol to transfer information between devices. One suchprotocol is the eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP)standard protocol as defined in RFC 3920 and RFC 3921. One of ordinaryskill in the art will further recognize that other techniques of codingdata and different protocols for sending data could also be used.

While the model of real-time presence is commonly applied in the contextof personal computers or single user devices, there is a need for asystem to provide presence information for communication devices thatare a shared resource not necessarily owned or used exclusively by asingle individual. Disclosed are methods and embodiments that may beused to extend presence information to multi-user devices and conferencerooms. In a particular embodiment, video conferencing devices aredescribed that convey properties of a conference room, such as, itsstate of presence, its size, its ability to provide schedulinginformation, conference room equipment, people currently in theconference room, its ability to facilitate or launch conferences, etc.

As used herein, a “conference” can be any combination of one or moreendpoints configured to facilitate simultaneous communication amongst agroup of people including audio, video, and/or data conferences. Also,as used herein, a “conferencing entity” refers to devices, participants,conference rooms, and other things that may be scheduled to participatein a conference. Typically, a conference will include a subset of theavailable people (i.e., meeting invitees) and a subset of the availabletechnical and physical infrastructure. Technical infrastructure caninclude networks, bridging devices, multipoint control units, end pointdevices, etc. Note that some parts of the technical infrastructure willbe capable of supporting multiple conferences at the same time whileother parts of the technical infrastructure will be limited to a singleconference at a time. Physical infrastructure can include offices,conference rooms, and other places where conference participants may bephysically present.

Additionally, physical conference rooms may contain video/audioequipment and other physical and technical capabilities used tocommunicate with other such conference rooms or individuals. Theattributes of a physical conference room and/or the technicalcapabilities of the equipment residing therein may be added to theextended presence information to further inform users of each location'scapabilities. For example, the size of the conference room or number ofoccupants it can support might be useful information. Alternatively,parameters of the equipment, such as display size, number of displays,capabilities for display of presentation content in addition to videocontent of participants, stereo sound, etc. may also be of use andtherefore can be advantageously included in the extended presenceinformation.

Typically, all XMPP endpoints are assumed to be capable of expressingbasic presence and the ability to receive, display, gather, and sendinstant messages. Because some appliance endpoints do not have akeyboard or a practical method of gathering text input for instantmessaging, there exists the problem that other XMPP stations mightassume that an appliance system can participate in an instant messagingsession. However, when an instant message is sent to an appliance orother device without input capability, the message is ignored.

To address this limited capability, an extended technique to express theinability to participate in an instant messaging session is required.Using the XMPP XEP-0115: Entity Capabilities standard, a “nochat”capability can be expressed. When another XMPP station sees andrecognizes this capability, it will disable the option to initiate aninstant messaging session to that appliance. There is thus a better userexperience because options are not presented that might result in usersinitiating unsuccessful transactions. By preventing an instant messagingsession from starting the user is not left wondering why an instantmessage was seemingly ignored when in fact it was delivered to a systemthat was unable to handle the message in the expected manner.

In general, basic presence may be expressed as one of the followingstates: available, away, extended away, do not disturb, and unavailablestates. Also, it should be understood that new states of presence may beadded to convey states of a conference room system (video/audioconferencing device) as extended presence information. The typicalindividual presence states such as: busy, available, idle etc, may beextended to include new states that are tailored to a multi-userconference room including, but not limited to, three exemplary newstates. A new first state can represent a “meeting in progress” toindicate that the conference room is in a conference call. Additionalinformation like the meeting name, chair person or duration of themeeting can also be maintained as a data item associated with thisstate. A new second state can indicate a particular conference room is“scheduled for a meeting.” This second state can provide an indicationthat the conference room is currently not in use but a meeting isscheduled for this corresponding time. Again additional supporting datacan be associated with this state. A new third state can indicate“meeting room is full.” This third state can inform others that theassociated conference room has reached its maximum limit for the numberof calls it can support or can indicate that all expected calls for thecorresponding conference have been received. Additionally, some newlydefined states can be dynamically determined based on informationinherently known by the conferencing device itself.

In the context of a video conference, extending presence information andassociating this extended presence information with devices andparticipants of a video conference may provide participants withadditional information useful in scheduling and participating in theconference. For example, properties of conference rooms, properties ofequipment, and availability of resources may aid in schedulingappropriate resources to facilitate a conference. Also, maintainingproperties of people associated with a conference may aid meetingparticipants during a conference. For simplicity each of these exampleswill be discussed separately below. However, it should be recognizedthat these examples may be combined with each other or with other dataprovided via extended presence information. Also note, not every device,room or person may be configured to provide its own presenceinformation. Therefore, it may be possible to associate a device witheach real world entity to act as a proxy in advertising the extendedpresence information for an entity.

Properties of a physical conference room that may be advertised viaextended presence information include the maximum occupancy of the roomand the type of videoconferencing system with which the room isequipped. A room may also be equipped with a specific type and model ofa video conferencing system. For example, the room may be configuredwith a system comprised of a particular number of monitors or the roommay be configured with an immersive telepresence system andconfiguration. The number of monitors may be important if the meetingscheduler is planning to present something visually (e.g., presentation,document, diagram) and would like to be able to display the imageconcurrently with an image of live video. An immersive telepresencesystem is one which provides a natural, “across the table” experiencebecause meeting participants are shown in true-to-life dimensions. Oneexample of an immersive telepresence system is the Polycom RPX HD 400Series available from Polycom Inc., Pleasanton, Calif.

Properties of supporting equipment can also be advertised via extendedpresence information to indicate the quality of video experienceavailable. For example, if the system is capable of supporting highdefinition video or high fidelity audio. This may be important to themeeting scheduler if the conference material will include audible orvisual content requiring precise reproduction at the remote sites. Also,the number and type of audio/visual (A/V) aids or interfaces availableto the supporting equipment can be advertised. This may be useful if thepresentation materials rely on collaboration with multiple input/output(I/O) devices. Additionally, supporting equipment capabilities which maybe useful to advertise may include but not be limited to capacities ofequipment (as in the maximum number of calls which can be placed),ability to service certain protocols (e.g., IP, ISDN, POTS, etc.),ability to provide bridging capabilities, and ability to place ad-hocconferences.

Scheduling information for conference entities can also be advertisedvia extended presence information. This need not be limited to thescheduling information about meeting invitees, but can also includeinformation about physical conference room schedules and equipmentschedules. This may prevent two meeting organizers from schedulingcoinciding “large” conferences which might have the potential ofoverloading the bridging capacity available at a particular time. Also,scheduling and location of a portable multi-user device that can bemoved from one physical conference room to another, such as a movieprojector, can be provided to a presence server via extended presenceinformation. A meeting organizer can interface to a scheduling systemvia an end user interface device such as, but not limited to, a personalcomputer, personal data assistant (PDA), cellular phone, etc.

During a conference, extended personal presence information (i.e.,information about a person invited to the meeting) can be used to trackthe location and status of a meeting invitee. For example, the extendedpersonal presence information can indicate if the meeting invitee isactually participating in the meeting or if they are currently absent.Updating this information in near real-time can also aid in efficiencyand potentially security of a meeting. With near real-time update,participants are able to determine a new person has joined theconference. This can be particularly important for efficiency if a keyperson arrives late and something important to the discussion had to bepreviously suspended because the key person was not yet in attendance.From a security perspective this may be useful if the newly arrivedperson is an uninvited participant. Current systems typically onlynotify the participants when a new “far end” joins the conference, andno notification is given if another individual arrives at an alreadyconnected “far end.”

Referring now to FIG. 1, an embodiment of a method for providingextended presence information is shown. Process 100 includes the abilityto convey capabilities of a physical conference room as extendedpresence information (block 130). While traditional models of presenceare typically modeled around individual accounts, extended presenceinformation can be used to convey the “group nature” (i.e., used bymultiple individuals simultaneously) of multi-user conferencing devices.A video conference system or speaker phone can be configured to conveyinformation related to the capabilities of the physical conference roomassociated with that device, which in turn may help a user understandthe physical conference room's properties when choosing a physicalconference room to meet the user's conferencing requirements.

Conferencing systems can advertise their capabilities or parameters ofan associated physical conference room in a presence message (defined asper XEP 0115 extensions to XMPP) as in the following example.

<c xmlns=‘http://jabber.org/protocol/caps’ node=’http://polycom.com/xmpp/client/caps’  ver=’0.0.1’ ext=’ConferenceRoom-v1, Size(Large)-v1,Quality(HighDefinitionVideo)-v1,   A/VAids(FourMonitorSupport,Projector)-v1,   Transport(H.323,SIP,H.320,POTS)-v1,MaxCalls(8)-v1’ >

As can be seen from the bold text the example above, this presencemessage is for a “Large” conference room with high definition (HD) videosupport. The conference room contains audio/visual (A/V) aids of fourmonitors and a projector. The transport capabilities supported in theconference room include the protocols H.323, SIP, H.320 and POTS. Themaximum number of calls which can be concurrently connected to theconference room is eight.

Shown below is an example of how a conference system might advertise itsextended presence for the “meeting in progress” state explained above(note the text in bold):

<presence xml:lang=‘en’>  <show> Meeting in In-Progress in ArboretumConference Room  </show>  <status>Weekly Review Meeting by Bob: From 10am till 11 am  </status>  <status xml:lang=‘cz’>Jadvo&amp;#x0159;&amp;#x00ED;m Juliet</status>  <priority>1</priority></presence>

The (bold faced) show element conveys the information that a meeting iscurrently in progress in the Arboreturn Conference Room. The (boldfaced) status element contains the information that the meeting is beingconducted by Bob and the meeting will run from 10 to 11.

When video or audio endpoints are enhanced to use the eXtensibleMessaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) standard protocols (RFC 3920 andRFC 3921) to provide standards based presence, the endpoints can alsoinclude “buddy list” dialing as a means to improve the user experience.Buddy list dialing allows a user to pick a name, typically from a listof common personal contacts, and call that particular contact. Anenhanced calling device can also have some expectation of whether thefar end user is available (based on the far end user's presenceinformation) prior to initiating a call. Also, the XMPP standards canprovide instant messaging (IM) capabilities for personal computer (PC)endpoints, or other IM capable devices.

Conferencing systems can also advertise their basic “group nature”capability in presence messages. Returning now to FIG. 1, shown is aprocess 100 for how a Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) can add extendedpresence information pertaining to a conference room associated with afar end location to a presence server through registration and update.Starting at block 110, control is passed to block 120 where it isdetermined if this conferencing device (e.g., speakerphone orvideoconferencing endpoint) is a device with extended conference roompresence information. If not (the NO prong of block 120) control ispassed to block 140 and registration proceeds without extended presenceinformation. Flow then continues to block 160 to wait for any changes tothe presence status of the device. If the device does have extendedpresence information (the YES prong of block 120), control is passed toblock 150 where the extended conference room presence information isformatted in XML data and registered with the Presence Server. Controlis then passed to block 160 to wait for any changes to the presenceinformation. When presence information is detected to have changed atblock 160 the process repeats.

After an endpoint indicates their “group nature” and extended presencestatus, the endpoint can also provide the presence server with a list ofpresent attendees. Optionally the presence server can also display eachindividual attendee's presence status. This can be implemented with arelationship as that of a parent-child, when the endpoint is associatedwith a conference room, the conference room could become the parent andthe people who are grouped as part of this conference room are expressedas its children. For example, conferencing systems might advertise theirextended presence, including participant status as shown in the bolded“member” element, in a nested model (i.e., nested inside the message ofthe previous example):

<presence xml:lang=‘en’>  <show> Meeting in In-Progress in ArboretumConference Room  </show>  <status>Weekly Review Meeting by Tom: From 10am till 11 am  </status>  <status xml:lang=‘cz’>Jadvo&amp;#x0159;&amp;#x00ED;m Juliet</status>  <priority>1</priority><conference room presence> <member>     <presence>    from=‘tom@polycom.com’     show>Available</show>     </presence></member> <member>     <presence>     from=‘dick@polycom.com’    show>Available</show>     </presence> </member> <member>    <presence>     from=‘harry@polycom.com’     show>Away</show>    </presence> </member> </conference room presence> </presence>

People who have a meeting scheduled in a conference room can transfertheir local presence information by logging their attendance in theconference room or by accepting the invitation for a meeting when theyclick an “accept/update presence state” icon manually (e.g., just beforeheading to the conference room). Shown below is an example messagewhereby a user can initiate a move of an individual's presence status toa group entity such as a conference room. Note the “transfer presence”element in bold. After this message is transmitted far sites whosubscribe to such an individual's presence information can receiveupdates on the new presence status (e.g., the individual's presenceinformation being transferred to a conference room device or a far endlocation).

<presence xml:lang=‘en’>  <transfer presence>ABCConferemceRoom@polycom.com </transfer presence>  <show> Available</show>  <status>Weekly Review Meeting by Tom: From 10 am till 11 am </status>  <status xml:lang=‘cz’>Ja dvo&amp;#x0159;&amp;#x00ED;mJuliet</status>  <priority>1</priority> </presence>

Referring now to FIG. 2, shown is process 200, an extension to process100, described above. In this embodiment, the extended presenceinformation for the conference room includes information pertaining tothe people associated or logged into the conference room (block 210).Furthermore, the information pertaining to the conference (e.g., nameand meeting details) is gathered and provided to the presence server atblock 220. Additionally, the names of the people associated with theconference room are gathered and provided to the presence server atblock 230. Finally, note that process 200 contains a continuous loop,similar to process 100, allowing for information updates upon any changein presence information for each device or individual associated with aphysical location.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a further embodiment, process 300, is shownthat has the capability to display local presence as a collection ofindividual conference attendees. In this embodiment, conference roomsystems can query the “far site display name” of individual endpointsjoining the conference room and collectively advertise these far siteendpoints as members (via a nested relationship as shown above) and aspart of its own extended presence information. In this way a conferencecan dynamically add, delete or update members (endpoints) in itsrepresentation of presence. Therefore, when a set of people connect tothe conference, the conference makes a mention of the new participantswho have joined the call via a new endpoint as part of that endpointsextended presence information (blocks 310 and 320).

As an example, this would allow an Administrator to find the individualsthat are connected (in a call) to the conference from a particularconference room. (As an example to the above, the conferenceadministrator, using XMPP as the presence protocol, might do a reverselook-up of the XMPP JID using the “Far site” display name and thereafteradd the XMPP JID as a nested element to its presence information.)

Referring now to FIG. 4, a further embodiment is shown where process 400includes the scheduling information associated with the conference roomin the conference rooms' extended presence information (block 410). Thiscould be used to convey the schedule of the conference room for theday/week, providing the user with a means to schedule a conference. Anexample of how a conferencing system might advertise their extendedpresence in a “schedule” element of an XML message is shown below:

<presence xml:lang=‘en’> ...  <schedule>  8 am - 9 am: Free  9 am - 10am: Scheduled for a ...  </schedule> </presence>

Referring now to FIG. 5, an embodiment is shown in process 500 where aset of users may have the ability to launch ad-hoc conference callsbased on presence status from the conferencing system either locally oron a remote system. A caller can subscribe to a call (block 510) thatwill get triggered in the future based on the presence status of each ofthe endpoints and the predefined participants in the multipoint call.The subscription process can be performed from any device providing asuitable user interface for scheduling a meeting e.g., a personalcomputer, personal data assistant (PDA), cellular phone, etc. As anexample, assume a user wishes to connect to three far site users under aprecondition that they all should be available. This user can schedulesuch a call and wait, the system will watch for presence updates forpredefined participants at the loop represented by block 520, 530 and540. As soon as the system detects that each of the far sites isavailable (Yes prong of block 530), the system can initiate apop-up/alert screen to inform the user that the subscribed conferencecall can now be placed (block 550). A preferred method of implementingthis embodiment could utilize endpoint software that tracks the presencestates of each of the conference participants and provides anotification to the user who scheduled the call when all desired sitesand participants are available.

Referring now to FIG. 6, an exemplary conferencing device 600 is shown.Exemplary conferencing device 600 comprises a programmable controldevice 610 which may be optionally connected to input 660 (e.g.,keyboard, mouse, touch screen, etc.), display 670 or program storagedevice 680. Also, included with program device 610 is a networkinterface 640 for communication via a network with other conferencingand corporate infrastructure devices (not shown). Note network interface640 may be included within programmable control device 610 or beexternal to programmable control device 610. In either case,programmable control device 610 will be communicatively coupled tonetwork interface 640. Also note program storage unit 680 represents anyform of non-volatile storage including, but not limited to, all forms ofoptical and magnetic storage elements including solid-state storage.

Program control device 610 may be included in a conferencing device andbe programmed to perform methods in accordance with this disclosure(e.g., those illustrated in FIGS. 1-5). Program control device 610comprises a processor unit (PU) 620, input-output (I/O) interface 650and memory 630. Processing unit 620 may include any programmablecontroller device including, for example, the Intel Core®, Pentium® andCeleron® processor families from Intel and the Cortex and ARM processorfamilies from ARM. (INTEL CORE, PENTIUM and CELERON are registeredtrademarks of the Intel Corporation. CORTEX is a registered trademark ofthe ARM Limited Corporation. ARM is a registered trademark of the ARMLimited Company.) Memory 630 may include one or more memory modules andcomprise random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM),programmable read only memory (PROM), programmable read-write memory,and solid state memory. One of ordinary skill in the art will alsorecognize that PU 620 may also include some internal memory including,for example, cache memory.

Various changes in the materials, components, circuit elements, as wellas in the details of the illustrated operational methods are possiblewithout departing from the scope of the following claims. For instance,acts in accordance with FIGS. 1-5 may be performed by a programmablecontrol device executing instructions organized into one or more modules(comprised of computer program code or instructions). A programmablecontrol device may be a single computer processor (e.g., PU 620), aplurality of computer processors coupled by a communications link or oneor more special purpose processors (e.g., a digital signal processor,DSP). Such a programmable control device may be one element in a largerdata processing system such as a general purpose computer system.Storage media, as embodied in storage devices such as 680, as well asmemory internal to program control device 610, suitable for tangiblyembodying computer program instructions include, but are not limited to:magnetic disks (fixed, floppy, and removable) and tape; optical mediasuch as CD-ROMs and digital video disks (DVDs); and semiconductor memorydevices such as Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM),Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM),Programmable Gate Arrays and flash devices. These are also sometimesreferred to as computer readable medium or program storage devices.

In addition, processing unit 600 may be included in one or more of amultiplicity of devices and computer systems coupled through a computernetwork represented by network 720 as illustrated in FIG. 7. Corporatenetwork 700 comprises multiple computer systems 710 and 730-780communicatively coupled to each other through network 720. Network 720represents a plurality of network technologies enabling computers to becommunicatively coupled (e.g., LAN, WAN, POTS, Ethernet, TCP/IP, ATM,etc.). Additionally, other supporting devices (not shown) may becommunicatively coupled to computer network 700. These supportingdevices are known to those of ordinary skill in the art and include, butare not limited to: personal endpoint 710, recording device 730, speakerphone 740, presence server 750, file server or web server 780, networkattached storage, printers, etc. Conference room 770 may be associatedwith a device attached to network 720 to act as a proxy for maintainingthe physical conference room presence information. Network 720 could beone or more intranets, one or more extranets (e.g., the Internet) or acombination of both intra- and extranets. In network 700, MultipointControl Unit (MCU) 760, for example, could include memory for retainingprogram modules for performing any of the methods illustrated in FIGS.1-5. Note each of the above described supporting devices may also becombined into a single physical device or combination of devices.

Referring now to FIG. 8, a conference 800 is shown to illustrate oneembodiment of this disclosure. This example conference is in progressand involves two particular fixed office buildings and a cellular phone840. Video conferencing equipment 810 and personal computer 820 arelocated in a first office building while devices connected directly tolocal area network 870 (i.e., 830, 850 and 860) are located in a secondoffice building. In this example, each of the office buildings isadditionally connected via the internet or the Public Switched TelephoneNetwork (PSTN) to the other office building. The user of cellular phone840 is connected to the conference in an audio only mode via a cellularnetwork (not shown) and not physically located in any conferencebuilding at the start of the conference. During the conference the userof cellular phone 840 arrives at the second office building, enters theconference room containing video conferencing equipment 860 andterminates his audio only connection. Video conferencing equipment 860determines or is notified that there is a change in presence informationpertaining to the conference and sends updated extended presenceinformation to a presence server (not shown). The presence server maythen process the updated extended presence information to determine ifupdates need to be transmitted to endpoint devices for usernotification. Note, in this case, because the user of cellular phone 840was already a participant in the conference there may not be any need totransmit notification to endpoint devices. On the other hand, if acompletely new person had arrived, transmitting a notification may bedesirable.

In the above detailed description, various features are occasionallygrouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments of the subjectmatter require more features than are expressly recited in each claim.

Various changes in the details of the illustrated operational methodsare possible without departing from the scope of the following claims.For instance, illustrative flow chart steps of FIGS. 1-5 may perform theidentified steps in an order different from that disclosed here.Alternatively, some embodiments may combine the activities describedherein as being separate steps. Similarly, one or more of the describedsteps may be omitted, depending upon the specific operationalenvironment the method is being implemented in. In addition, acts inaccordance with FIGS. 1-5 may be performed by a programmable controldevice executing instructions organized into one or more programmodules. A programmable control device may be a single computerprocessor, a special purpose processor (e.g., a digital signalprocessor, “DSP”), a plurality of processors coupled by a communicationslink or a custom designed state machine. Custom designed state machinesmay be embodied in a hardware device such as an integrated circuitincluding, but not limited to, application specific integrated circuits(“ASICs”) or field programmable gate array (“FPGAs”).

It is to be understood that the above description is intended to beillustrative, and not restrictive. For example, the above-describedembodiments may be used in combination with each other. Many otherembodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewingthe above description. The scope of the invention should, therefore, bedetermined with reference to the appended claims, along with the fullscope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appendedclaims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as theplain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and“wherein.”

What is claimed is:
 1. A method executed by a presence server ofprocessing extended presence information associated with one or moreconference entities facilitating a conference, the method comprising:obtaining extended presence information about a plurality ofconferencing entities including a first conferencing entity, each of theplurality of conferencing entities facilitating a conference, theplurality of conferencing entities representing conferencing devices orphysical facilities; correlating the extended presence information in apresence server; monitoring for changes to the extended presenceinformation; and transmitting at least a portion of the changed extendedpresence information to a conferencing entity selected from theplurality of conferencing entities, the selected conferencing entitydifferent from the first conferencing entity; wherein obtained extendedpresence information comprises information about facilities includingmaximum occupancy of a conference room.
 2. A method executed by apresence server of processing extended presence information associatedwith one or more conference entities facilitating a conference, themethod comprising: obtaining extended presence information about aplurality of conferencing entities including a first conferencingentity, each of the plurality of conferencing entities facilitating aconference, the plurality of conferencing entities representingconferencing devices or physical facilities; correlating the extendedpresence information in a presence server; monitoring for changes to theextended presence information; and transmitting at least a portion ofthe changed extended presence information to a conferencing entityselected from the plurality of conferencing entities, the selectedconferencing entity different from the first conferencing entity;wherein the first conferencing entity comprises a conference room andthe extended presence information contains an indication of theconference room's ability to provide scheduling information.
 3. A methodexecuted by a presence server of processing extended presenceinformation associated with one or more conference entities facilitatinga conference, the method comprising: obtaining extended presenceinformation about a plurality of conferencing entities including a firstconferencing entity, each of the plurality of conferencing entitiesfacilitating a conference, the plurality of conferencing entitiesrepresenting conferencing devices or physical facilities; correlatingthe extended presence information in a presence server; monitoring forchanges to the extended presence information; and transmitting at leasta portion of the changed extended presence information to a conferencingentity selected from the plurality of conferencing entities, theselected conferencing entity diffterent from the first conferencingentity; wherein the first conferencing entity comprises a conferenceroom and the extended presence information contains an indication ofconferencing equipment devices in the conference room.
 4. A methodexecuted by a presence server of processing extended presenceinformation associated with one or more conference entities facilitatinga conference, the method comprising: obtaining extended presenceinformation about a plurality of conferencing entities including a firstconferencing entity, each of the plurality of conferencing entitiesfacilitating a conference, the plurality of conferencing entitiesrepresenting conferencing devices or physical facilities; correlatingthe extended presence information in a presence server; monitoring forchanges to the extended presence information; and transmitting at leasta portion of the changed extended presence information to a conferencingentity selected from the plurality of conferencing entities, theselected conferencing entity different from the first conferencingentity; wherein the first conferencing entity comprises a conferencingsystem and the extended presence information contains an indication ofnumber of displays associated with the conferencing system.
 5. A methodexecuted by a presence server of processing extended presenceinformation associated with one or more conference entities facilitatinga conference, the method comprising: obtaining extended presenceinformation about a plurality of conferencing entities including a firstconferencing entity, each of the plurality of conferencing entitiesfacilitating a conference, the plurality of conferencing entitiesrepresenting conferencing devices or physical facilities; correlatingthe extended presence information in a presence server; monitoring forchanges to the extended presence information; and transmitting at leasta portion of the changed extended presence information to a conferencingentity selected from the plurality of conferencing entities, theselected conferencing entity different from the first conferencingentity; wherein the first conferencing entity comprises a conferencingsystem with at least one camera and the extended presence informationcontains an indication of resolution of the camera.
 6. A method executedby a presence server of processing extended presence informationassociated with one or more conference entities facilitating aconference, the method comprising: obtaining extended presenceinformation about a plurality of conferencing entities including a firstconferencing entity, each of the plurality of conferencing entitiesfacilitating a conference, the plurality of conferencing entitiesrepresenting conferencing devices or physical facilities; correlatingthe extended presence information in a presence server; monitoring forchanges to the extended presence information; and transmitting at leasta portion of the changed extended presence information to a conferencingentity selected from the plurality of conferencing entities, theselected conferencing entity different from the first conferencingentity; wherein the first conferencing entity comprises a conferencingsystem with at least one display and the extended presence informationcontains an indication of resolution of the display.
 7. A methodexecuted by a presence server of processing extended presenceinformation associated with one or more conference entities facilitatinga conference, the method comprising: obtaining extended presenceinformation about a plurality of conferencing entities including a firstconferencing entity, each of the plurality of conferencing entitiesfacilitating a conference, the plurality of conferencing entitiesrepresenting conferencing devices or physical facilities, correlatingthe extended presence information in a presence server; monitoring forchanges to the extended presence information; and transmitting at leasta portion of the changed extended presence information to a conferencingentity selected from the plurality of conferencing entities, theselected conferencing entity different from the first conferencingentity; wherein the first conferencing entity comprises a conferencingsystem with at least one display and the extended presence informationcontains an indication of size of the display.
 8. A method executed by apresence server of processing extended presence information associatedwith one or more conference entities facilitating a conference, themethod comprising: obtaining extended presence information about aplurality of conferencing entities including a first conferencingentity, each of the plurality of conferencing entities facilitating aconference, the plurality of conferencing entities representingconferencing devices or physical facilities; correlating the extendedpresence information in a presence server; monitoring for changes to theextended presence information; and transmitting at least a portion ofthe changed extended presence information to a conferencing entityselected from the plurality of conferencing entities, the selectedconferencing entity different from the first conferencing entity;wherein the first conferencing entity comprises a conference room andthe extended presence information contains an indication of theconference room video specifications.
 9. A method executed by a presenceserver of processing extended presence information associated with oneor more conference entities facilitating a conference, the methodcomprising: obtaining extended presence information about a plurality ofconferencing entities including a first conferencing entity, each of theplurality of conferencing entities facilitating a conference, theplurality of conferencing entities representing conferencing devices orphysical facilities; correlating the extended presence information in apresence server; monitoring for changes to the extended presenceinformation; and transmitting at least a portion of the changed extendedpresence information to a conferencing entity selected from theplurality of conferencing entities, the selected conferencing entitydifferent from the first conferencing entity; wherein the firstconferencing entity comprises a conference room and the extendedpresence information contains an indication of the conference room audiospecifications.
 10. A conference communication end user devicecomprising: a programmable control device; wherein the programmablecontrol device is configured to: obtain extended presence informationabout operational capacity of the communication device; transmit atleast a portion of the extended presence information to a presenceserver; monitor for changes in the obtained presence informationrelative to the communication device; and transmit at least a portion ofthe changes in the obtained presence information to the presence server;wherein the programmable control device is further configured to furtherextend the presence information, if the communication end user device isa multi-user device, with one or more properties pertaining to aplurality of users using the multi-user device.
 11. The conferencecommunication end user device of claim 10, wherein the programmablecontrol device is further configured to advertise the capabilities ofthe communication device in XEP 0115 extensions to XMPP.
 12. Theconference communication end user device of claim 10, wherein theprogrammable control device is further configured to advertise a lack ofcapability of the communication device in XEP 0115 extensions to XMPP.13. The method of claim 1 wherein the extended presence informationcontains an indication of the conference room's ability to providescheduling information.
 14. The method of claim 1 wherein the extendedpresence information contains an indication of conferencing equipmentdevices in the conference room.
 15. The method of claim 14 wherein theindication of conferencing equipment devices in the conference roomincludes an indication of number of displays associated with aconferencing system.
 16. The method of claim 14 wherein the indicationof conferencing equipment devices in the conference room includes anindication of resolution of a camera associated with a conferencingsystem.
 17. The method of claim 14 wherein the indication ofconferencing equipment devices in the conference room includes anindication of resolution of one or more displays associated with aconferencing system.
 18. The method of claim 14 wherein the indicationof conferencing equipment devices in the conference room includes anindication of size of one or more displays associated with aconferencing system.
 19. The method of claim 14 wherein the indicationof conferencing equipment devices in the conference room includes anindication of the conference room video specifications.
 20. The methodof claim 14 wherein the indication of conferencing equipment devices inthe conference room includes an indication of the conference room audiospecifications.
 21. The method of claim 2 wherein the extended presenceinformation contains an indication of conferencing equipment devices inthe conference room.
 22. The method of claim 21 wherein the indicationof conferencing equipment devices in the conference room includes anindication of number of displays associated with a conferencing system.23. The method of claim 21, wherein the indication of conferencingequipment devices in the conference room includes an indication ofresolution of a camera associated with a conferencing system.
 24. Themethod of claim 21 wherein the indication of conferencing equipmentdevices in the conference room includes an indication of resolution ofone or more displays associated with a conferencing system.
 25. Themethod of claim 21 wherein the indication of conferencing equipmentdevices in the conference room includes an indication of size of one ormore displays associated with a conferencing system.
 26. The method ofclaim 21 wherein the indication of conferencing equipment devices in theconference room includes an indication of the conference room videospecifications.
 27. The method of claim 21 wherein the indication ofconferencing equipment devices in the conference room includes anindication of the conference room audio specifications.
 28. The methodof claim 3 wherein the indication of conferencing equipment devices inthe conference room includes an indication of number of displaysassociated with a conferencing system.
 29. The method of claim 3 whereinthe indication of conferencing equipment devices in the conference roomincludes an indication of resolution of a camera associated with aconferencing system.
 30. The method of claim 3 wherein the indication ofconferencing equipment devices in the conference room includes anindication of resolution of one or more displays associated with aconferencing system.
 31. The method of claim 3 wherein the indication ofconferencing equipment devices in the conference room includes anindication of size of one or more displays associated with aconferencing system.
 32. The method of claim 3 wherein the indication ofconferencing equipment devices in the conference room includes anindication of the conference room video specifications.
 33. The methodof claim 3 wherein the indication of conferencing equipment devices inthe conference room includes an indication of the conference room audiospecifications.
 34. The method of claim 4 wherein the extended presenceinformation further contains an indication of resolution of one or moredisplays associated with a conferencing system.
 35. The method of claim4, wherein the extended presence information further contains anindication of size of one or more displays associated with aconferencing system.